July Reading Round-off

Well I honestly don't know where July vanished to. Rather oddly it feels like I'm already in the third week of the holidays when technically I only finished work last Friday O_O I'm guessing it's because I'm doing my voluntary work at the library that my brain is so mixed up.

But anyway this is going to be a fairly succinct round-off for the last month of reading. I know I've said I will do reviews for at least the YALC books I read this summer and I will honestly try but best laid plans and all.... Dude I frustrate myself with my apparent lack of will to do the things I say. Maybe I will get them done and then I can link them from here, who knows what'll happen?

July's Reading
65. Dead Romantic by C.J. Skuse (2/7/2014 PM)
66. Take back the Skies by Lucy Saxon (3/7/2014 AM)
67. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas (4/7/2014 AM) *RE-READ*
68. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (4/7/2014 PM)
69. Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz (6/7/2014 PM)
70. Lobsters by Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison (7/7/2014 AM)
71. A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke (10/7/2014 PM)
72. Heart-shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne (17/7/2014 PM)
73. Glimpse by Kendra Leighton (19/7/2014 AM)
74. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski (19/7/2014 PM)
75. Persuasion by Jane Austen (23/7/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
76. Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve (25/7/2014 PM)

It was a pretty good month, only two re-reads would you believe it? *le gasp* and both excellent ones because seriously guys Persuasion is just one of the most feels-provoking Austen books and well Crown of Midnight is just plain fucking awesome.

Book of the Month
Out of the clutch of really fantastic books I read last month the stand-out book for me has got to be The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski. I had heard such amazing things about it that I had high hopes going into reading. It was such a vibrant fantasy world with two very distinct cultures and people, one that had been brutally suppressed by the conquering force and the other blithely lording it over them. The main character Kestrel is the daughter of one of the conquering Generals and living in the city that her father helped capture. When she ends up buying a slave for an outrageously large sum - something very unusual for her - she finds herself in an odd situation. What will she do with the sombre Arin? It was a vastly exciting and fast-paced story and the interactions between Kestrel and Arin are simmering with chemistry. Marie has created a fascinating world that I am really hoping we'll get to explore more of in the second book. I am already wracked with impatience for March 2015. *grabby hands*

Honourable Mentions
Really though so many of this month's reads were awesome - A Monster Calls had me crying at work in the library. Lobsters was full giggles and adorkable summer shenanigans. A Kiss in the Dark was heart-wrenching and tense. Heart-Shaped Bruise was inticingly aloof and surprisingly emotional for me at the end.

Blog Stuff
This has been quite a busy month for the blog, I did three MA-HOOSIVE posts following the awesome weekend at YALC which you can find here - Saturday, Inbetween Stuff, and Sunday. 
I did a rather odd Writing Ray post after I had a slight freak-out about my book and had to be talked down of the proverbial ledge of negativity. That post is here.
I also posted over here the video I did of my YALC book & swag haul - if you want to see that
I even did a Top Ten Tuesday post this past week because the topic was kinda awesome so have a nosy at that post if you like.
Yesterday's Writing Ray post was about the awkward questions you get from family/friends if you're a writer.

So that's everything I wanted to include. I may do another Writing Ray post in the next week and I want to really try and get a review done because otherwise I'll get months down the line and I'll have bloody forgotten what the books were even about let alone what I thought of them.

Have a great Friday folks, I'm gonna have a How to Train your Dragon rewatch tonight because I'm suffering from feels thanks to listening to the soundtrack for the last three days.

Ray x

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July Round-off - WTF? Where did this month go??

Ok seriously, where the fandazzle is this year going?? I can't believe that it's the end of July already, I've been back from Uni for two months now and I feel like I've done nothing (which is technically quite accurate but that's besides the point). I'm gonna be turning freaking 20!! in October and it's getting scarily close now, time needs to stop racing away or I'm not gonna remember 2010 at all.

But anyway I'm rambling about nonsense, so what's happened this past month for me book and blog-wise? Well after I got back from Barbados it took me a week or so to get back into the swing of things so I've not done as many posts as I did in May or June. I'm not quite sure how many reviews I've actually done this month but I reckon it's not much more than 2 *oops*. I've obviously done some of the usual memes, It's Monday, What are you Reading?, Teaser Tuesdays, Booking through Thursday, In My Mailbox and I even got on a Blog Hop once. I had a slightly stress-head moment last week because it had taken me two weeks to write a review for Dreamland by Sarah Dessen and the writer's block was ruddy annoying so I ranted about my lack of motivation to write for several hundred words which seems ironic in hindsight, I can write loads about not being able to write. *facepalm*

I also did several posts about the two days my best friend Jess (Jess Hearts Books) and I spent frolicking around the Midlands in search of books to acquire - and boy were we successful! One of these days I *may* do a post about my trip to Barbados but don't rely on it, cos it'd take a heck of a lot of time to do and I'm on thin ice when it comes to the amount of time I spend on the computer *meep!*

Last week I did a post asking people to give me recommendations for books that my sister would like (YA realism, nothing paranormal) and I did a separate post asking folk if anyone would be interested in doing a guest post on here or if they'd like me to guest post on their blog etc. Links for all these posts will be below.

Books Read in July
107. His Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1/7/2010 PM)
108. The Oracle of Dating by Allison van Diepen (7/7/2010 AM)
109. An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris (8/7/2010 AM)
110. Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder (8/7/2010 PM)
111. The Princess and the Pauper by Kate Brian (10/7/2010 AM)
112. Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder (11/7/2010 AM)
113. Dreamland by Sarah Dessen (13/7/2010 AM)
114. A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn (14/7/2010 AM)
115. Cracked up to Be by Courtney Summers (16/7/2010 AM)
116. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (17/7/2010 AM)
117. Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman (19/7/2010 AM)
118. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (20/7/2010 AM)
119. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs (22/7/2010 AM)
120. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (26/7/2010 AM)
121. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (26/7/2010 PM)
122. The Summer I turned Pretty by Jenny Han (27/7/2010 AM)
123. The Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin (28/7/2010 AM)
124. Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith (29/7/2010 PM)
125. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (30/7/2010 PM)
126. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (31/7/2010 AM)


As you can see by that list I had a very YA orientated month, one Sherlock Holmes book, 3 adult paranormal books and the rest were YA. 7 books were re-reads which is quite bad since I've got over 100 books on my TBR list so I kind of need to make those my priority. 




July in Posts
Reviews
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen - Review Here
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater - Review Here

Meme Posts
It's Monday what are you Reading? - Here and 'Ere
Teaser Tuesdays - Zis one and Zat one
Booking through Thursday - Just this one
Book Blogger Hop/Follow Friday - Numero uno y Numero dos
In My Mailbox - Big Haul and Not so big

Random Posts
Road Trip of Awesome - Day 1, Day 2 and The Conclusion
Call for Guest Bloggers - Please Sir if you would
Call for Book Recommendations - It'd be a big help
Writer's Block Blues - You don't have to look at this

So that was my month, a pretty good one for books although I've not really cleared anything off my TBR cos I've bought more than I read but never mind lol.

August is looking to be a good month, my parents are going away for two weeks and will hopefully be finding me lots of lovely books from Floridian bookstores (I need to compile my list still!), I'm going to be having another meet-up with Jess and Ellie *happy dance* and right at the end of the month I'm gonna be going to London with the darling boyfriend for a few days and I'll be damned if I don't visit the mahussive bookshops there! I'm hoping to read more books off my TBR pile and a wider variety of genres than in July because I feel guilty for neglecting the tons of books in my cupboard.

I also may try and do another set of book shelf tours but this time I'm gonna try and show you folk what hidden in the massive depths of the cupboard (6 shelves stacked four rows deep with several books on top). I may try and borrow my sister's new Flip Camera *oozes with jealousy* to film it although heck knows it'll take a lot of work and I may have to empty the shelves to show you everything.

Anyhow, Here's to August and all it's possibilities!
LadyV

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